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Wednesday, October 19, 2005

That downtown icon is a nasty mean place. This is the conclusion I’ve come to. Yeah yeah yeah, they break plates and do all that stuff. They’ve got that funny purple octopus on top of the building. They even sell hats of the funny purple octopus. But they’re also a magnet for massive fights, drunks, and just bad scene. I’ve seen the typical male aggression there and it’s not pretty.

But in todays’ Oregonian’s Crime Stoppers column is the story of the fine Greek Cusina employee who is accused of beating the crap out of a customer, after they left the restaurant. Evidently Shawn McCorkle, 32, is wanted on a $500,000 warrant for first degree kidnap and second-degree assault. Whoa! It sounds like he and a couple of his thug buddies were working security (Powered by Ozo!) and after a customer was booted, they “followed the man, grabbed him around the neck, dragged him across the street, down the sidewalk and back into the Greek Cusina” where they proceeded to beat him brutally with a frickin’ fire extinguisher.

Nice! That’s a fine, fine establishment. And I’m sorry, but it’s not just this one guy. If you’ve ever encountered the owner during lunch time and how he speaks to his employees, it’s embarrassing and sad. I used to be a fan of their new salad-to-go deli thing they opened, but after seeing the owner berate an employee in front of customers, and now this story, no more Greek Cusina for me.

8 comments:

i used to go to the greek cuisina in the early 90s because my buddy loved the place and had become freinds with the owner or staff (don't remember.) i alwasy remember feeling unsafe and i'm a big guy. i always felt like i was a target for some ass clown who just wanted to get into a fight. guys would bump me and then give me that look like "what ya gonna do?" i would never engage and that sometimes caused other issues as they were just jackasses.well, years later, i obviously don't go to those types of clubs anymore, but a co-worker has in the recent past. he told me almost the exact same story of some guys just trying to goad him into a fight for absolutely no reason.

gotta love portland nightlife.

on a side note, the owner got his hand slapped a month ago by olcc and had to close for 3 days and pay a big fine because they were free pouring ouzo one night. he claimed it was part of the "experience of a celebration." who's the idiot there?

I've never been there, because the owner sounds like a total ass wipe. Remember when he was trying to shut down all the food carts a couple of years ago? As if those microenterprises were cutting into his business.

Your post only strengthens my resolve not to give that guy any of my money.

I've only been there for a Christmas party, so it was a pretty benign thing. I'm glad you posted that so I wouldn't venture there with my little bro as I'm trying to show him the town! If I had it my way, we'd only go to Embers, but alas, my brother can only handle so many nights watching drag shows and listening to 80's dance music. It's heaven to me!!

The other stories shared by ya'll only enforce my thoughts that it's about time I cut them off the LeLo lunch list. If anyone recommends a great place downtown to get healthy salads for lunch to go, bring it on!

I have a little storey of my own about the evil Greek Cuisina! We had a small get together there one night of about 8 people. My partner and I decided to pay for all and split the bill in half. Well, they ended up loosing my partner's debit card. We were there an additional 3 hours waiting for them to find it. Finally, we were so disgusted of the aweful customer service, we asked to speak to the owner/manager. We politely asked if they could cut the bill in half because they lost our card. The owner came out screaming at us, telling us that we were thieves by asking for a discount. Right in front of us, he screamed at the waitress that lost our card, screamed at us some more. Finally, I stood up and screamed back at him and the bouncer came and kicked us out. Now if that is not a frickin disfunctional way to handle your customers, i don't know what is!!! I hate that place. i reported them to the better business bureau... Apparently, the BBB has a mountain of complaints about that place. So case in point... BOYCOTT!!!!